Discussing his outspoken opposition to diplomacy with Iran, Republican Senator Mark Kirk said in a phone briefing for his supporters: “It’s the reason why I ran for the Senate, [it] is all wrapped up in this battle. I am totally dedicated to the survival of the state of Israel in the [...]

The 2013 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference wasn’t quite the same show of arrogant power that it usually is. There seems to have been a note of unusual concern among the 13,000 or so assembled activists. And those concerns echo some of [...]

I was struck by an article by Nathan Guttman in the legendary Jewish Daily Forward about Dennis Ross and George Mitchell jockeying for the position of Obama Administration’s point-person in the Middle East peace process. The whole thing is a fascinating read, but this line really jumped out at me:

Reports from Iran about a deadly airplane crash on Sunday that killed 77 passengers remain unclear regarding the cause of the accident. But the crash should serve to highlight the poor air safety record of Iranian passenger jets and the potential dangers of sanctions that ban the export of civilian aircraft parts to Iran.

MJ Rosenberg voices a well thought out response to Bruce Riedel’s suggestion that deterring a disastrous Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities is best accomplished by: forcing Israel to bring its nuclear stockpile out of the closet; extending the U.S. nuclear umbrella over Israel; bolstering Israel’s second strike capabilities; and giving it entrance [...]

For those who lament the utter lack of any compelling television discussion about foreign policy, particularly about U.S.-Iran relations, there was actually a very engaging conversation yesterday on MSNBC.

On the Dylan Ratigan Show, a midday program on the cable news channel MSNBC, neocon Cliff May of the [...]